Samsung Galaxy SII I9100 SGS2 Modding Thread

Professey Chin · 15-03-2012 3:23pm

I call vanilla stock and touchwiz etc bastardizations :pac:

BenEadir · 15-03-2012 10:39pm

Hi all,

Did a clean install of CheckROM V6 the other day then installed NEAK kernel 1.41, configured it using the NEAK configurator as follows:-
- Conservative Governor TICKED
- Lionheart tweaks TICKED
- Lazy governor - NOT TICKED
- Lagfree governor - NOT TICKED
- Sched_MC - TICKED
- AFTER idle mode - TICKED
- Ext4 boost optimisations - NOT TICKED

I also installed Voltage Control and selected the bfq I/O Scheduler but nothing else. The conservative governor is already selected via the NEAK configurator and I didn't tweak either the CPU or the voltage options thinking I was playing it safe!!!

Having reinstalled all my apps etc using Titanium backup everything looked and felt hunky dory so I charged it overnight. 6am the next morning I turned on the phone and went about my normal day which involves spending an hour on the phone in the morning checking emails, organising my schedule, looking at twitter, news websites etc followed by calls during the day via a bluetooth connected handset. The phone is sync'ing about 5 different accounts (2 gmail accounts, what's app, twitter etc) and is usually down to 25% by the time I leave the office at 5:30pm but the first day after installing all the above I still had 62% battery left and declared to myself that I finally had a ROM and Kernel which not only delivered excellent snappy performance but was a master at conserving energy.

Then it all went to $h1t and the battery dropped to 9% in two hours during which time I used the GPS for 30 minutes and tried and failed to make phone calls. The latter seems to be the problem bizarrely enough.

What's happening is I go to make a phone call, I dial in the number (or select from within a contact) and hit dial and then nothing for maybe 5 minutes and then, at a random time it places the call. During this time the other phone functions are really sluggish so I'm assuming the phone dialer I use (Dialer One) is the problem but even when I use the stock dialer I experience the same problem.

WTF???

Today I was driving to a meeting and was using the phone as my GPS (Google Navigation) whilst trying to make calls via bluetooth. Normally this isn't a problem but today not only was the dialer waiting literally up to 10 minutes before placing the call but the phone was consuming more power than my cigarette charger could pump into it. Even though the charger (which normally tops up the battey when I'm using GPS and making calls via bluetooth) was charging the phone the battery was dropping like a stone!!

I've checked my battery stats and nothing looked unusual with the exception of Android System which was up to 35% with Android OS at 15%.

Apologies for the long post but I feel so close to having an excellent set up that I really want to nail down whatever it is that's causing the dialer to act like this and eat battery like maniac.

All suggestions/feedback and even criticisms greatly received!!!

Ben

Cossax · 15-03-2012 11:37pm

Have you tried changing the kernel to something else and seeing if the problem persists?
Power up the KitchenPro and try some other kernel, if the problem persists that'll tell you it's something deeper than just the kernel - you may need to re-flash CheckRom v6 and see if that was the cause. If it still persists after a re-flash, go back to stock and see what happens. If you're still having problems...****!

I'm using speedmod k2 k21 and the ondemand scheduler and noop I/O scheduler on CheckRom v6 and getting very good battery life out of it.

BenEadir · 15-03-2012 11:51pm

Cossax wrote: »

Have you tried changing the kernel to something else and seeing if the problem persists?
Power up the KitchenPro and try some other kernel, if the problem persists that'll tell you it's something deeper than just the kernel - you may need to re-flash CheckRom v6 and see if that was the cause. If it still persists after a re-flash, go back to stock and see what happens. If you're still having problems...****!

I'm using speedmod k2 k21 and the ondemand scheduler and noop I/O scheduler on CheckRom v6 and getting very good battery life out of it.

Thanks for the suggestions Cossax, I think I'll give Speedmod a lash and see if it improves things and if it doesn't I'll do a re-flash with the additional step of formatting the internal drive on top of a factory wipe, cache wipe, dalvik cache wipe etc.

Never a dull moment eh??

Ben

ShooterSF · 16-03-2012 12:21am

Just a thought but is it possible your battery has developed a defect?

BenEadir · 16-03-2012 1:03am

ShooterSF wrote: »

Just a thought but is it possible your battery has developed a defect?

Funny you should mention that, I literally just received two spare batteries and a funky charger in the post today and I'm just about to drop one into the phone for the first time so it should be interesting to see if it changes anything.

Check them out, they are a great deal http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0058SJ5Q4/ref=wms_ohs_product

Ben

choronzonix · 16-03-2012 2:45pm

BenThere wrote: »

Thanks for the suggestions Cossax, I think I'll give Speedmod a lash and see if it improves things and if it doesn't I'll do a re-flash with the additional step of formatting the internal drive on top of a factory wipe, cache wipe, dalvik cache wipe etc.

Never a dull moment eh??

Ben

I'd also advise using a kernel cleaning script that can be found here, to remove any residues of Neak and your various tweaks (in case that is the problem).

AntiRip · 17-03-2012 5:59pm

Any reason why a phone may have lost root? I'm on CheckRom RevoHD V6 and have noticed the last couple of days ads appear on my phone even though I have adFree. AdFree cannot get root access and have now checked Titanium and CWM and both also can't get root access. I still have SU on phone and it says everything is ok.

Cossax · 17-03-2012 7:41pm

AntiRip wrote: »

Any reason why a phone may have lost root? I'm on CheckRom RevoHD V6 and have noticed the last couple of days ads appear on my phone even though I have adFree. AdFree cannot get root access and have now checked Titanium and CWM and both also can't get root access. I still have SU on phone and it says everything is ok.

Have you got SU to restart itself? Happened to me before that it needed to restart to allow others access it for root.

-Corkie- · 17-03-2012 9:26pm

I upgraded to Litening rom 2.1 today and I am very happy with it. I got rid of all those stupid apps that 3 put on it....

AntiRip · 17-03-2012 11:23pm

Had to do a reset and install rom again. Have su access again. Pain in the a$$ though

eamondunphy · 21-03-2012 1:36pm

i've done a fair bit off searching on how to flash but am still kinda confused.

i would like to flash the vanilla stock rom onto my s2 so that it will be similar to the galaxy nexus

has anyone any tips please?

have never flashed/rooted before and am very afraid of destroying my phone

srsly78 · 21-03-2012 2:23pm

Stock rom on galaxy2 = official samsung rom with touchwiz. This is not the same as stock on the galaxy nexus at all.

Best to install the latest cyanogen rom, it's built from the official android code.

eamondunphy · 21-03-2012 2:37pm

srsly78 wrote: »

Stock rom on galaxy2 = official samsung rom with touchwiz. This is not the same as stock on the galaxy nexus at all.

Best to install the latest cyanogen rom, it's built from the official android code.

sorry, i meant the plain vanilla ics like on the galaxy nexus, is it possible to get this from somewhere?

ive looked into cyanogen but i think version 9 is the one that includes ics and a stable rom isnt available yet

shane547 · 21-03-2012 2:49pm

Yeah I've tried pretty much all the ics roms and I've found CM9 to be the most stable by a fair bit. Latest rom and instructions are available in the first post of this thread http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1419102

As for rooting the following is by far the simplest way, just make sure read the firsy couple of posts very carefully http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1103399

eamondunphy · 21-03-2012 3:16pm

shane547 wrote: »

Yeah I've tried pretty much all the ics roms and I've found CM9 to be the most stable by a fair bit. Latest rom and instructions are available in the first post of this thread http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1419102

As for rooting the following is by far the simplest way, just make sure read the firsy couple of posts very carefully http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1103399

Thanks for that Shane, it still looks a bit too confusing for me...

I was hoping to just flash the ics rom that's on the galaxy nexus without rooting, but it seems that I need to root, which I was hoping to avoid, and that the vanilla ice isn't as easy to flash as I hoped

I've never done anything to my phone before and am a complete novice so sorry if I seem a bit thick!!!

shane547 · 21-03-2012 4:10pm

eamondunphy wrote: »

shane547 wrote: »

Yeah I've tried pretty much all the ics roms and I've found CM9 to be the most stable by a fair bit. Latest rom and instructions are available in the first post of this thread http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1419102

As for rooting the following is by far the simplest way, just make sure read the firsy couple of posts very carefully http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1103399

Thanks for that Shane, it still looks a bit too confusing for me...

I was hoping to just flash the ics rom that's on the galaxy nexus without rooting, but it seems that I need to root, which I was hoping to avoid, and that the vanilla ice isn't as easy to flash as I hoped

I've never done anything to my phone before and am a complete novice so sorry if I seem a bit thick!!!

Not to worry it is daunting for sure at the beginning. Once you figure it out though its rather simple.

Yes you would have to root as the stock s2 rom is different from that on the galaxy nexus.

If you want you can give me the baseband version your phone has which you can find in the about phone section and I can walk you through it.

eamondunphy · 21-03-2012 6:55pm

shane547 wrote: »

Not to worry it is daunting for sure at the beginning. Once you figure it out though its rather simple.

Yes you would have to root as the stock s2 rom is different from that on the galaxy nexus.

If you want you can give me the baseband version your phone has which you can find in the about phone section and I can walk you through it.

That would be great thanks, I've looked at the xda developers forum and other sites and I'm still confused/scared about what to do...

My phone details are:

Pda: i9100xwki4

Phone: i9100xxki1 this is the baseband version

Csc: i9100xeukh2

Just for clarity, is it possible to get the vanilla ics rom that's on the galaxy nexus or doing have to get something like CM9??

Zagato · 21-03-2012 7:27pm

eamondunphy wrote: »

sorry, i meant the plain vanilla ics like on the galaxy nexus, is it possible to get this from somewhere?

ive looked into cyanogen but i think version 9 is the one that includes ics and a stable rom isnt available yet

It's not possible to get just plain vanilla ICS ROM as is on the Galaxy Nexus, for your SGS2. You will need to use a ROM like CyanogenMod 9 which is probably the best one.

CyanogenMod have just announced that for CM9 that root will be disabled by default, if it is a security risk you are concerned about being rooted.

Flashing a ROM is pretty easy if you have a Windows PC

If you don't want to alter your phone initially and just want to achieve root to flash an ICS ROM I suggest using Chainfires method (Read this Post) It is the Kernel version that you will need to know rather than PDA, Phone or CSC -it doesn't matter too much as long it is from the same android version.

This will give you recovery and also mean that you will have installed Odin on your PC this is the quickest way to flash ROMs.

Might I suggest you consider flashing DarkyRom -you can flash the light version if you want a vanilla experience. This is basically the stock ICS with Samsung stuff removed (Uses Nova Launcher) rather than CyanogenMod which is AOSP and built from the ground up. This means that hopefully it should be less buggy, but maybe not quite so customizable as CM9. For example FM Radio does not work and issues with recording video on CM9.

Happy to do a walk through to sometime if you want.
Despite my signature I'm actually using DarkyROM for the last 2 days and it's pretty good.

srsly78 · 21-03-2012 7:30pm

You don't need root to flash a rom on sgs2, why do people keep saying this?

Just put phone into download mode, run odin, flash rom. No rooting needed.

eamondunphy · 21-03-2012 8:25pm

Thanks for the replies, i know you have all probably answered these questions before!!

I think I'd like to get CM9, i can live without the functional camera

Can anyone help me with how to go about getting CM9 on my phone?

Is it possible to simply flash it through odin? I'd rather not confused myself by rooting if I don't have to... Thanks again!!!

carbon nanotube · 21-03-2012 8:43pm

Is there any mod that lets me actually use the A-GPS, absolute rubbish is all I have to say about it.

I got new f/w upgraded 4.0.3, it worked for a while after the new update but stopped again (searching for gps... bla bla)

i tried all the fixes and stuff, at this rate its looking like this will be flogged in the next few months.

Zagato · 21-03-2012 9:40pm

eamondunphy wrote: »

Thanks for the replies, i know you have all probably answered these questions before!!

I think I'd like to get CM9, i can live without the functional camera

Can anyone help me with how to go about getting CM9 on my phone?

Is it possible to simply flash it through odin? I'd rather not confused myself by rooting if I don't have to... Thanks again!!!

As Srsly says you don't need to root in order to put any Odin flashable ROM, but unfortunately you do in order to put CM9 on. If you want to put CM9 on what you need to do is firstly get Odin and download the CF Root kernel from the link. You will need to read the thread I linked to above on XDA and also the thread in the same forum about download mode and recovery mode, there is no getting around this -it will make it all a lot easier to understand.
After flashing the CF Root kernel you will have a recovery image from which you can flash ROMs such as CM9. Then you download the CM9 ROM along with GAPPS and GAPPS fixer that are on the CM9 download page, put them all on your internal SD and install them from the recovery menu (after doing a full CWM backup and subsequent factory reset). Usually people use an app such as Titanium Backup to back up their apps and data but this will not work with CM9. I do also use SMS Backup and Restore for text messages.

carbon nanotube wrote: »

Is there any mod that lets me actually use the A-GPS, absolute rubbish is all I have to say about it.

I got new f/w upgraded 4.0.3, it worked for a while after the new update but stopped again (searching for gps... bla bla)

i tried all the fixes and stuff, at this rate its looking like this will be flogged in the next few months.

There is obviously a problem with your phone, I would be inclined to restore it to it's original setup and return it, my GPS works fine, and always has

eamondunphy · 22-03-2012 12:07am

Zagato wrote: »

As Srsly says you don't need to root in order to put any Odin flashable ROM, but unfortunately you do in order to put CM9 on. If you want to put CM9 on what you need to do is firstly get Odin and download the CF Root kernel from the link. You will need to read the thread I linked to above on XDA and also the thread in the same forum about download mode and recovery mode, there is no getting around this -it will make it all a lot easier to understand.
After flashing the CF Root kernel you will have a recovery image from which you can flash ROMs such as CM9. Then you download the CM9 ROM along with GAPPS and GAPPS fixer that are on the CM9 download page, put them all on your internal SD and install them from the recovery menu (after doing a full CWM backup and subsequent factory reset). Usually people use an app such as Titanium Backup to back up their apps and data but this will not work with CM9. I do also use SMS Backup and Restore for text messages.

There is obviously a problem with your phone, I would be inclined to restore it to it's original setup and return it, my GPS works fine, and always has

thanks zagato, i did have a look at that linkon the xda page earlier, if anything i seemed to get a bit more confused, i dont know andthing about kernals and cf-root... i'll read over it again.

have you ever heard of http://galaxys2root.com it seems to have a different and from what i can make out simpler way of rooting and flashing. Have you ever used/heard the resurrection remix rom that is mentioned on the site?

wotzgoingon · 22-03-2012 2:36am

I'm really liking Lite'ning ROM 2.1 ICS at the min. Especially with LRToolbox. It's the same as kitchen for CheckRom, as it's an app and you download updates for the ROM or custom boot animations, custom boot sounds, kernels, modems and applications and it installs them for you. Pretty cool as it saves a bit of time, like having to search online and then install manually.

eamondunphy · 22-03-2012 2:52am

are these videos the correct way you guys root and flash??

for rooting, he shows 2 different ways

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=KNVE0UDe-bQ

http://galaxys2root.com/galaxy-s2-root/how-to-root-galaxy-s2-newworks-on-all-galaxy-s2-variants/

for flashing a rom

http://galaxys2root.com/galaxy-s2-hacks/how-to-install-rom-on-galaxy-s2/

sorry, ive another question also:

the chap here seems to have rooted his phone and installed ClockworkMod Recovery.... he then seems to put roms on the sd card of the phone and through ClockworkMod Recovery can select and flash whatever rom he chooses.

is it that simple?
if i root the phone can i then just put the resurrection remix ics rom on my sd card and then load it through ClockworkMod Recovery, even though im on gingerbread at the moment?? according to the videos, it seems i only need to use odin once, when i root the phone

SuprSi · 22-03-2012 1:11pm

This may have been asked already, but there's a simple video guide on the CNET website with instructions on how to upgrade to the official ICS release using Odin. My question is about backing my data up as I don't know what I'm going to lose. Would I be right in saying that everything not stored on my SD card will be deleted?

SuprSi · 22-03-2012 3:06pm

Don't worry about it, I bit the bullet, upgraded and haven't lost anything and don't seem to have any problems.

Irish Gunner · 22-03-2012 5:52pm

wotzgoingon wrote: »

I'm really liking Lite'ning ROM 2.1 ICS at the min. Especially with LRToolbox. It's the same as kitchen for CheckRom, as it's an app and you download updates for the ROM or custom boot animations, custom boot sounds, kernels, modems and applications and it installs them for you. Pretty cool as it saves a bit of time, like having to search online and then install manually.

Whats this Rom like as currently on UltraToxic but no update to ICS on this. Reading the posts on XDA seems a bit buggy..?

Does the LRTToolbox come with the ROM download? Also did you do a clean wipe or clean cache and dalvik?

May try it out but take a back up on my current ROM via CWM

Zagato · 22-03-2012 11:05pm

eamondunphy wrote: »

are these videos the correct way you guys root and flash??

for rooting, he shows 2 different ways

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=KNVE0UDe-bQ

http://galaxys2root.com/galaxy-s2-root/how-to-root-galaxy-s2-newworks-on-all-galaxy-s2-variants/

for flashing a rom

http://galaxys2root.com/galaxy-s2-hacks/how-to-install-rom-on-galaxy-s2/

sorry, ive another question also:

the chap here seems to have rooted his phone and installed ClockworkMod Recovery.... he then seems to put roms on the sd card of the phone and through ClockworkMod Recovery can select and flash whatever rom he chooses.

is it that simple?
if i root the phone can i then just put the resurrection remix ics rom on my sd card and then load it through ClockworkMod Recovery, even though im on gingerbread at the moment?? according to the videos, it seems i only need to use odin once, when i root the phone

The CF in CF-Root stands for Chainfire, who is the developer that adds root to those otherwise stock kernels, it also includes a new recovery image which he has developed called ClockworkMod Recovery, often shortened to CWM (which has an accompanying app). You can get into this recovery without booting Android, and use it to flash ROMs, backup your entire phone, restore your phone and a few other things. It is very handy. Flashing via Odin is actually easier, though, I think.
You are right in that you can stick the ROM onto your internal SD and flash it from there through CWM.
The way I would recommend to root therefore is Chainfire's method which is the one I linked to earlier. I am sure the other methods work, but personally can't vouch for them, and it is useful to be able to use Odin anyway if you run into any problems you may need to use it.

EDIT: Reread your post. Yes you should only need to root once to flash CWM flashable ROMs, but I still say Odin is a useful tool for fixing things if there are any problems. I think Shane547 was using Resurrection, but he's switched to CM9.

Samsung Galaxy SII I9100 SGS2 Modding Thread

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